August 02, 2004

The above link which may not be available permanetly summarizes the major trades made at the end of July-while I thnk the Dodger trades were awful and I have mixed feelings about the Mets(my two favorite teams in that order-what I want to write about is my overall presciptions for gettin the NP back on the right track. Since I cannot do anything about free agency other that make changes at the periphers-(luxury tax-etc) how do we ameliorate the fact that the Yankees can continue to outspend everyone else in the majors-(even the Orioles,Mets, Red Sox, Braves, White Sox, Angels and other occasionally free spending teams can no longer keep up.

How to fix this? In my opinion baseball has become overly dependent on "old man skills"-strike zone judgement and power at the expense of "young man skills"-defense and speed-
So lets give some more value to "young man skills"-
1)Raise the strike zone-the musclebound elderly will no longer be able to get around on the high pitch and their relative value will decline
2)Build larger parks-if I had to be a mid market GM-I'd love to try my hand at Detroit or San Diego-pitcher's parks
3)Eliminate the DH-old men drawing large salaries and the bane of wild young pitchers-these guys chew up pitch counts while the pitcher would be an easy out-this one will work on two levels-why hasn't this idea gotten more traction

June 21, 2004

Ken Griffey Jr, hitting his 500th home run on Father's Day was a real gift for me as well as for KG Sr.

In 1995 my two sons then ages 9 and 4 were given invitations to visit the New York Yankee dugout before the game. The nine year old at that time was a baseball fanatic and by chance his favorite player was the Yankee's second baseman Pat Kelly who was to be their host that evening. The visiting team was the Seattle Mariners then led by Lou Piniella. We had to remain in the stands and the boys were given over to their host. It was a hot beautiful early September evening but I don't recall if the game itself was of any significance in the pennant race.

I could see the older boy drop his jaw as he surveyed the dugout, Buck Showalter, Mike Stanley, David Cone, Don Mattingly, Darryl Strawberry, Paul O'Neill, Wade Boggs (full team link HERE).

The younger boy was quite ill at the time and had spent virtually the entire summer in the hospital- (after a long stretch he completely recovered) but at the time he was fearful and tentative and in a great deal of pain). He would only attend wearing a batman suit, which he felt would protect him.

The boys were supposed to spend about 30 minutes, talking to the players, getting autographs, taking pictures etc. and the Yankees could not have been nicer. However the best part was when Pat Kelly went over to the visitors' dugout and asked Ken Griiffey Jr. to come say hello. At the time Jr. was probably the biggest draw in the game. His pedigree, innocence and that graceful long looping swing which one would think was too beautiful to be so effective were still recent enough to be fresh and mature enough to be savored. He was generous with his time, spending a half hour himself with them and sweet and patient. The pictures are marvelous and someday I will scan them and display them here. He was a big star but not a big ego.

When he came on hard times I was quietly rooting for him to make a complete recovery and hoping he would be the one to hold Hank Aaron's record for a long time-Not Bonds, not Sosa and not Arod. I expect all 4 will break it and I guess in the big scheme of things it doesn't really matter. I pray he stays healthy and we get to enjoy 600,700 and even more.

June 06, 2004

I was switching channels and caught this glimpse of Ronald Reagan at a press conference- in reply to an unheard question he said, "I guess it's working-that's why they don't refer to it as Reagonomics anymore"
That self deprecating humor shielding a fierce pride has been lacking for a long time-only JFK in my memory was similar.

Also saw most of a special produced and narrated by Michael Feinstein on American popular music of the Irving Berlin, Cole Porter variety which in the hour I saw focussed on WWII and also popular music of the movies, Highlights of the film were Fred Astaire Puttin' on the Ritz, Judy Garland wishing us a "Merry Little Christmas", Kate Smith imploring God to Bless America and Betty Hutton as a wonderfully humorous Annie Oakley wishing she could "Get a Man With a Gun-

The gals with "umbrellars"
Are always out with fellers
In the rain or the blazing sun
But a man never trifles
With gals who carry rifles

It's funny it scans-it doesn't condescend-my 13 year old was up and actually said he liked the music
The WWII segments included pictures of GI's celebrating Christmas in the ETO and included hand grenades as tree decorations.-the faces were so young and cheerful
The VJ day parades were as fresh and inspiring as they were when I first saw them in aging newsreels as a child in the early fifties and had a special poignancy with tomorrow's 60th D-Day anniversary and with the serious illness of the virtuous father who provided air cover on that day.
Also from the music special one of my all time favorites and one which will serve as a good tribute to "The Great Communicator"
By Johnny Mercer

You've got to accentuate the positive
Eliminate the negative
And latch on to the affirmative
Don't mess with Mister In-Between

You've got to spread joy up to the maximum
Bring gloom down to the minimum
Have faith or pandemonium's
Liable to walk upon the scene

These words could have been written about him
Ronald Wilson Reagan 1911-2004

May 19, 2004

Yankees-Angels-Scoreless Bottom Nine
Posada thrown out at the plate to end top of the ninth on good throw by Vlad but bad call by umpire-God I love low scoring games-the pressure on the defense the importance of positioning the defense-

What a great day for baseball-perfect game by Randy Johnson age 40 -previous oldest Cy Young at 37 one hundred years ago-I loved baseball in the fifties and sixties when pitchers duels were so much more common-but also loved the eighties when parity was greatest

May 16, 2004

Has anyone else noticed that Derek Jeter's posturing at the plate has really gotten out of hand. When the pitch is on the outside part of the plate he peers back at the ball after it is in the cathcher's mitt. When it is inside, he jackknifes out of the way. He does this even when the pitches are clearly strikes and I have seen him called out a number of times. Derek it's not cute and it's not effective-the umpires are hip to this old act-lose it fast